The yachtsman stuntman – Yachtsman Alex Thomson decided to undertake the stunt of running up the mast of his boat and diving off the top of it into the ocean on a whim.

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The man behind the mast8 photos

The yachtsman stuntman – The climb itself to the very top took just 16 seconds.

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The man behind the mast8 photos

The yachtsman stuntman – A helicopter overview shot shows Thomson charging up the mast, the boat at a 60-degree angle for his alternative voyage.

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The man behind the mast8 photos

The yachtsman stuntman – Thomson hurtles up the mast aware that the boat can keel at any moment and fling him onto the deck or the water below.

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The man behind the mast8 photos

The yachtsman stuntman – Thomson reaches the top of the sail on his mast walk and gets ready to dive into the ocean beneath him.

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The man behind the mast8 photos

The yachtsman stuntman – Thomson launches himself off the mast and into the water below having never performed a dive of such magnitude in his life before.

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The man behind the mast8 photos

The yachtsman stuntman – Waves crash against Thomson, bedecked in only a water-resistant designer suit, which is worn for the entire stunt, as he returns to shore.

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Story highlights

Sailor takes on death-defying stunt of charging to the top of his boat's mast and diving off

Alex Thomson decided to do the stunt on a whim but later called it "stupid"

The feat was carried out without a harness and with him wearing only a designer suit

As for the future, he has no idea what stunt he might next perform... watch this space

It's like a stunt from the latest James Bond movie, only this isn't a movie.

Adorned in a designer suit and sunglasses, a sailor sprints up the 30-meter mast of a boat as it plows ahead at a 60-degree angle.

Hopping over ropes and rigging it takes him just 16 seconds to reach the mast's peak. There, he checks himself, removes his sunglasses, pops them in his top pocket and dives into the ocean nine meters below him.

"It's the most stupid thing I've ever done," is Alex Thomson's frank assessment of his stunt.

"It wasn't safe at all," adds the yachtsman more used to solo circumnavigating the globe. "Only looking back do I really appreciate how dangerous it actually was."

The stunt was carried out without a harness, just a water resistant suit, although the risk was reduced thanks to the work of a stunt co-ordinator and two days of preparation on the water.

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For Thomson's daredevil performance to succeed he also needed a wind speed of exactly 18 to 20 knots and for the boat to be traveling at 10 knots (a little under 20 kph).

The 37-year-old and his team began their search for the perfect wind speed in Palma, Mallorca, but were forced to switch to Tarifa in southern Spain because conditions weren't right before eventually shifting to Cadiz where the stunt was eventually performed.

"At the end of the first day, I had to sit down on shore and calm down," says Thomson.

"I was appreciating perhaps it wasn't safe at all, and there were some hairy moments when we were practicing. I remember one time I was halfway up when the boat suddenly tacked and I was just left hanging from the mast.

"Obviously falling from that height from the mast onto the deck isn't advisable," he quips. "The ramifications wouldn't have been great."

On the day itself, with stunning skies above, the stunt went pretty much perfectly, which had a lot to do with the man driving the boat, Ross Daniel.

"His was the harder, more nerve wracking job as he had to keep the boat just right," says Thomson. "Ross works for me and he's a good mate so obviously he was conscious he didn't want things to go wrong.

"I'm not sure if he was relieved come the end of it but he was certainly happy man with how it went."

As for Thomson's starring role in the escapade, he's conscious that he came very close to really hurting himself.

"Now the top of a mast isn't really designed for a man to dive off but I went for it and it held up," says the yachtsman.

"As for the dive itself, I slightly over-egged. There was some quite impressive editing work on that as I landed head first very close to my back.

"It was quite close to a back belly flop and, while I wouldn't have killed myself, I certainly would have had some nasty internal injuries.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world – French skipper Thomas Coville is the latest yachtsman trying to tackle the round-the-world solo record in his trimaran Sodebo.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world9 photos

Sailing on the high seas around the world – In February 2009, Michel Desjoyeaux became the first -- and still only -- man to twice win the Vendee Globe, considered by many the pinnacle of ocean racing.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world – The world's leading yachtsmen marvel at the often glorious skyline on their various solo voyages -- here the sun sets on British skipper Alex Thomson.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world9 photos

Sailing on the high seas around the world – Sailors are left to spend months at sea on their own with only satellite phones and the occasional helicopter flying overhead to keep them company.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world9 photos

Sailing on the high seas around the world – The end of each voyage is traditionally met by huge fanfare with tens of thousands of spectators. Here Francis Joyon celebrates his record of 57 days for circumnavigating the globe.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world – Britain's Robin Knox-Johnston was the first man to perform a singlehanded nonstop circumnavigation of the globe, in 1968.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world9 photos

Sailing on the high seas around the world – In 2007, nearly four decades after his last circumnavigation and aged 68, Knox-Johnston once again sailed solo around the world in the VELUX 5 Oceans Race, being the oldest to ever enter the event.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world9 photos

Sailing on the high seas around the world – Not all voyages, however, have gone to plan. Desjoyeaux's latest trip in the Transat Jacques Vabre ended up with him dismasting just 140 miles (260 kilometers) from the finish.

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Sailing on the high seas around the world9 photos

Sailing on the high seas around the world – Steve White (second from right) with other Brits in the 2008-09 Vendee Globe and Knox-Johnston (second from left). White faced a battle just to fund his entry but finished a creditable eighth.

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Sailing in the extreme 12 photos

Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – The Extreme Sailing Series provides volatile racing action, as the Aberdeen Asset Management crew found when capsizing in Cowes, England.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – Sailors are stretched to their limit throughout the events. Here, Realteam bowman Thierry Wasem holds on by his feet as he tries to keep his crew on track.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – The series is about close, stadium racing, enabling boats such as Holmatro (pictured) to get tight to rivals and spectators alike.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – The margins between triumph and disaster tend to be very fine, as BT Betterworld's crew know all too well.

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Sailing's Extreme Race Series – Among the competitors are a host of well-known teams, including former America's Cup winner Alinghi.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – Perhaps the most high-profile entrant this year is America's Cup winner Ben Ainslie, who will skipper his own crew when the competition starts in Singapore.

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Sailing's Extreme Race Series – For all his experience, though, Ainslie has been warned about the perils of the series, where crashes and damage to multimillion-dollar catamarans are not uncommon.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – Unlike many other top-class sailing events, fans and spectators are able to get up close and personal with the competitors.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – The series travels to all manner of venues across the globe after the first "act" (as each regatta is known) in Singapore starting February 20.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – No venue is too small, apparently, with crews even battling it out on the narrow canals of Amsterdam, Holland, in recent years.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – The series plays host to a variety of breathtaking backdrops, such as this one in Portugal last season.

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Sailing in the extreme12 photos

Sailing's Extreme Race Series – The man to beat this year is British skipper Leigh McMillan, who is targeting a hat-trick of series titles with his boat The Wave Muscat.

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EXPAND GALLERY

The 20 best sailing images of 2013 20 photos

The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

The world's 20 best yacht racing photographs have been shortlisted for the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image of 2013, an eclectic mixture of photographs on the high seas.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

In total, 82 photographers from 19 different countries entered, including American Jen Edney -- who here snaps Michele Sighel as he checks his crew on their passage from Honolulu to the Philippines.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

The shots span the globe -- in this instance Keel Week Race in Germany, where photographer Ainhoa Sanchez Vidales observed: "Feel the control of the sailor to dominate all the elements."

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

The award is handed out on December 11 at the World Yacht Racing Forum in Gothenberg, Sweden, where all the photographs are on show -- including this dramatic drop in the ocean.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

Competitor Biljard Guus focuses on the waves ahead during the 2.4-meter fleet racing in the World Paralympic Sailing Championships at Kinsale, Ireland.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

Here Stefano Rizzi poses as he waits for the start of the International Moth class's Italian Open Championship at Lake Garda. He went on to win a relatively wind-less event.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

This overhead shot off the coast of Saint Tropez captures a crew in action away from the sun-kissed French Riviera beaches, highlighting the elegant nature of the vast yachts in action.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

Some pictures highlight the treacherous nature of the seas -- not that the yachtsman in question here looks unduly concerned as he appears to dip into the water on-board the sailboat Elena.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

Photographer Max Ranchi captures one of the competitors in May's Trofeo Conde de Godo race near Barcelona, as he explains in his own words, "coming out of the weather mark, bearing away and ready to set gennaker."

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

Here, the vessel Virbac-Paprec MOD70 looks a nanosecond away from capsizing as she masters a course at speed during June's La Route des Princes race from Spain to France via Ireland and the UK, as taken by Josep Sanchez.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

A spectacular offshore picture taken of Spanish boat Desafío Mapfre near Portugal during February's bid to break the Atlantic Ocean crossing record along the "Route of Discovery" traveled by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

The physicality of sailing is summed up with aplomb here during August's 420 European Junior Championships in Pwllheli, Wales, with winds of 20 knots.

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It's hard to see where exactly the sea ends and the boat begins in Guillaume Grange's image taken with a Canon 5D MKIII during the Mini Transat race in Douarnenez, France.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

Dheer Singhi, of Chennai, tackles winds of 23 knots during a race at India's Topper class national championships. He went on to tie with Vishnu Sujeesh but had to settle for silver on a countback.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

The notorious Sydney to Hobart race has had its tragedies, but this time it was comfortably won by Wild Oats XI, owned by Bob Oatley, in a new record of one day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

Photographer Rick Tomlinson, snapping the all-female crew of Team SCA's ocean racing venture, described it as a "photo session with many good shots, it was hard to chose which one to enter into the competition."

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A glorious blue sky is almost entirely filled by this monstrous 129-foot yacht, with its hard-working crew toiling on a big wave on an upwind leg during the Les Voiles de Saint Tropez race, which ended October 6.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

A boat is immediately in the thick of the action at the Celtic Regatta in Wales' Cardigan Bay, where a strong southwesterly wind over the tide caused a large swell. Photographer Andy Green piloted his own boat and took pictures at the same time.

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The 20 best sailing images of 201320 photos

An out-of-focus yellow buoy bobs on the surface of the water as, in a distance, Pachakis Ioannis glides over the water in October's Cretan Union Cup, captured on a Pentax 450mm.

"Diving wise, I'd always wanted to dive but wasn't sure until I got to the top whether I'd have the guts to do it.

"I'd been up a 10-meter board at a pool in training but never dived off it. So this was a first and, once I was up there, I sort of thought I might as well go for it."

As he pondered that stomach-churning dive, Thomson says he felt surprisingly calm.

"As a sailor I'm used to hoisting myself up the mast and you get well versed at reading the wind and the waves so I was quite aware if there was suddenly going to be a change in the boat's course," he explains.

There wasn't, he duly hit the water and quickly returned to the surface to the relief and cheers of his team.

Even now, Thomson, who has a penchant for being something of a daredevil, is not entirely sure why he performed the stunt.

"I did a keel walk a while ago and we did a video for that, which got over two million people watching which I was flabbergasted by," he admits.

"So we got talking about doing something else and this seemed a bit of fun really.

"I'd taken to running up the mast -- although not necessarily to the top -- for a while, mostly when entertaining people on the boat to, say, take pictures of them on the deck.

"So, going the whole way up and jumping off seemed a good idea.

"It's a bit like the Vendee Globe (the race to circumnavigate the globe). You sort of agree to it not thinking it will necessarily happen, and then suddenly the day comes for it."

Having done a keel walk two years ago and now a mast walk, Thomson is at a loss to consider what might complete a hat-trick of sailing stunts.

"That was the same after the keel walk. I'd never planned to follow that or do something like this, it just happened. So when I'm asked what I might do next, I literally have no idea."